Looking at
your web-site was delighted to see memories of Gordon Waldron of Barker
Street. I wonder if he remembers me, I lived just further along in
Barker Street from about 1935 to 1951 and I recall he and his cousin
Brenda Avery very well indeed, in fact I think they used to take me to
school when I was very young.

I also
seem to remember I had a big crush on him for many years but he was not
interested as I was much younger. I had many cousins who also lived in
the area, Terry and Harry Stone who lived in the same yard as Brenda,
the Gibbons family who lived in Garbett Street, the Savegars who lived
in Shakespeare Road, and the Baileys, Arthur, Ken and Robert, who lived
opposite in Barker Street.

Most of
them have now passed away but I am still in touch with Ken who now lives
in Cardiff, having married a Welsh girl. I also have lived for over 30
years in Wales, having moved when Girling’s relocated to Cwmbran in
1983.

Two of my
children still live in Halesowen and Stourbridge, and while visiting my
daughter in Stourbridge a few weeks ago she took me to the new Library
in Centenary Square where we were able to purchase the old maps of
Ladywood and what memories they invoked. We walked to the top of the
Steps and it all came flooding back - OK maybe we were poor by today`s
standards but we were happy and it was a great community to live in.